I'll explore each of these developments below.
In my Zero to Users research on acquisition channels, I've yet to find a founder who had success with LinkedIn ads. Most founders describe them as very expensive to begin with. Take Baby Growth Chart, a mobile app for new parents:
LinkedIn ads sounded like a good idea, targeting pediatricians, but wow are they expensive! In two days, I've already spent most of that money. The average CPC is over $7.00.
This is why I find this news exciting. LinkedIn has announced they're launching a closed beta of "Stories Ads" with plans to launch more broadly in 2021.
What this means to you: If you've ever wanted to try advertising on LinkedIn but found it too expensive, this may be your opportunity. If Instagram and Facebook are any indication, story ads are usually much cheaper than feed ads.
My prediction is LinkedIn Story Ads will be cheap for a while. Then as more advertisers figure out how they work, the ads will get more and more expensive over time — but never as expensive as existing feed ads. This might not be such bad news for you if you figure stories out early, get a good ROI, and then re-invest your money as this ad format becomes more competitive.
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The new format will make it easier to advertise on major news publications.
What are Web Stories Ads? Take a look at this image:
They're basically a new format that Google introduced back in October.
The way they work is: You type in a search from a mobile device (like "Forbes"), which opens a Google AMP page containing these stories.
And as of this week, you can now buy ads that display in Web Story format.
What this means for you: Again, heed the law of shitty clickthroughs. This is a new format that Google introduced two months ago, which means not many people are aware of it. You can test it and see if you get good ROI before banner blindness sets in.
Google has been working with a number of major publishers to make web stories available on their pages:
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App stores are a major acquisition channel for SaaS businesses. Just look at the number of successful Shopify stores, Slack apps, and Chrome Extensions.
Notion is the new kid on the block. They're a platform that's been growing like crazy, with about 50 million visitors a month. And they've just announced a beta version of their API.
What this means for you: This API is a big deal. And for two reasons:
a) Notion has a massive audience, and they'll probably do a lot to promote their API's early adopters.
b) The API is a stepping stone for them to open an app store, just as it was for Slack and Shopify. If you've read my report, Zero to Users, you know that app marketplaces are an acquisition channel that has worked successfully for hundreds of founders.
They just added shopping tags to Reels, their TikTok clone. This basically enables Reels creators to "tag" — or publicly display — a product listing in their clips:
What this means for you: I view this as an opportunity for founders to cheaply partner with influencers for two reasons:
a) These are new but promising influencers. Many of them are bringing some of their TikTok audiences to Instagram as well.
b) The competition is low. This is a new feature that's just been released, and it will take time before advertisers flood it with offers.
If you've been doing influencer marketing in the past and know what works for you, giving this a try is a no-brainer.
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If I had read this before I wouldn't have bought LinkedIn ads. With a CPC of 3.48€ and a CTR that's the half of Facebook's (I'm building a B2B product, so that was quite a surprise), it's been a waste of money so far.
Sorry to hear this :( Yeah, I wish I found a successful case study I can share. I only remember one guy briefly saying that LinkedIn ads worked for them in a video interview (will link if I can find it), but he was selling an expensive B2B product for enterprises.
If someone can share a successful LinkedIn Ads case study, feel free to reply to this comment.
The weirdest thing is that the audience to which Linkedin decided to show the ads, and that better responded to my product was mostly teachers from the Higher Education sector (I mean, whaaa...? 😵 )
It didn't make any sense: I had chosen an audience of HR managers.
Snapchat invented it, then Instagram copied it and now everyone has it. Stories are clearly the new hot goldmine. Not gonna lie, I watch Instagram stories a lot...because I usually follow people I care about/friends...I feel like LinkedIn stories it's a shit storm where everyone will be selling you a new shovel.
I think B2B stories present another challenge. When I see an Instagram story I'm pretty certain it will be something from the life of my friends. But with Twitter stories for example, I keep seeing people advertise their stuff there, which defeats the whole purpose of stories.
Yeah you lose interest immediately when you start seeing more and more people just pushing their products...that means that less people will enjoy watching stories. Or it just gets normalized and then the Revenue strategy gremlins win because now they have a new ad-channel to spend budget on.
We’ll see. I assume Twitter stories will be more engaging for the B2C crowd, simply because they don’t have anything to advertise.
What about LinkedIn?
I don't see LinkedIn having any B2C crowd. It's all businesses/business people.
I agree, but do you USE stories on LinkedIN? watched/created any?
Yeah
Create them or just swipe through when bored?
Everyone seems to be pushing stories. Twitter released them recently, now LinkedIn and Google. I'm pretty sure they'll also incentivize early adopters by giving them bigger reach, but I'm not sure how effective they'll be. One thing is certain though; if someone figures them out, they're gonna win big.
I've seen e-commerce brands succeed with it. The big ques. is whether they'll be effective for B2B (with LinkedIn). Time will tell.
Notion FTW! Great stuff Darko again! Keep it up!
Thanks!
Amazing as always. Keep them coming!
Thanks!
I love this series that you are doing! Keep up the good work and of course keep sharing some GOOOOOOD stuff :)
Thank you!
Darko keep up the good work & can't wait to read your next post!
thanks :)
Thanks for sharing! Do you have any usage stats for Instagram Reels?
It seems Instagram is giving early adopters plenty of reach:
https://influencermarketinghub.com/instagram-reels-stats/
Which kinda makes sense.
Thanks. Yes, it def makes sense for IG to incentivize usage to a new feature by giving people bigger organic reach at the start. I'm pretty sure that reach will decrease though, as with everything that FB does. Or maybe they'll get pressure from TikTok and won't do it, who knows...
I don't see a problem on relying on organic reach on another platform, as long as it's not your primary way of reaching customers.